But Volunteer Guards Foil Ransom Attempt by Islamist Fulani Criminals
By Izhi Bitrus Adamu
Kebbi State, NIGERIA — Pastor Adamu Japhet is recuperating at the Ecumenical Church Winning All (ECWA) Missionary Coordinator’s residence in Yauri, in Kebbi State, where he is receiving treatment after five days in captivity, he told Truth Nigeria. The pastor is a missionary from Nigeria’s most prominent Protestant church in the Middle Belt, as well as the most persecuted, and he has dared to plant a congregation in Nigeria’s wild, wild Muslim West.
Along the shore of the powerful Niger River in southern Kebbi, kidnapping gangs, and the deadly Sahelian insurgency known as Lakurawa, work hand in hand, according to security experts and locals who have spoken to TruthNigeria. The majority of the residents are Muslim and are a recruitment pool for the Lakurawa insurgency that seeks to overthrow the government in Abuja and plant a Caliphate.
The Yauri-Shanga-Ngaski region is Kebbi’s deadliest corridor in 2026. On April 13, 2026, police confirmed so-called bandits killed 44 persons in eight communities in Shanga County including Kasoshi.
In April, a Redeemed Christian Church of God missionary was killed in Kasoshi village near the River Niger passing through Yauri, Pastor Bako Sabo told TruthNigeria. Kidnappings for ransom are trending upward. The kidnapping gangs, known to be dominated by Fulani gangsters, are collaborating closely with the Lakurawa insurgents, according to security experts interviewed by TruthNigeria.
Onward Christian Soldiers!
Into this dangerous environment ECWA has planted the Mante Mission Station with only a handful of members, chiefly Muslim converts under Yauri Local Church Council, Kebbi District Church Council, in the southern senatorial district of Kebbi State.
Pastor Japhet, a mid-40s missionary with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Evangelical Missionary Society (EMS) was kidnapped barely three months after resumption in his new station, on September 28, 2026 at about 11:25 p.m. at his residence in Bagudo County (LGA).
His wife and 10-year-old child escaped, he said.
“They came to my house in the middle of the night with guns. They tied my feet and tied my hands. I slept outside for the period we were in captivity,” he said.
Adamu identified his abductors as men of the Fulani tribe by their language and their accent when speaking Hausa language, he told Truth Nigeria. The Fulani tribe is one of Nigeria’s largest, accounting for six percent of Nigeria’s population, or 14.5 million people.
The abductors demanded N3 million ($2,000), one carton of spaghetti, one carton of cigarettes, one bag of flour and N20,000 worth of cell-phone recharge cards, he said.
On October 1, the church delivered N3 million plus all the items at about 7:00 p.m. Two fellow missionaries volunteered to enter the bush to deliver it, he said.
The ransom was extracted from an impoverished Christian church. Japheth himself ordered that his only motorcycle used for rural evangelism be sold to complete the payment, he said.
Three More Christians Still Held After Ambush
But a day after Pastor Japhet regained freedom, another kidnapping struck the same area.
On Saturday, October 3, 2026, Pastor Aliyu Danlami and three church members of ECWA from Uli in Ngaski County were kidnapped while traveling together on a local road. The four remain in the stronghold of Fulani ethnic kidnappers, a church leader who requested anonymity citing security reasons told Truth Nigeria.
On Monday, October 5, the armed group demanded five jerry cans of Premium Motor Spirit otherwise called fuel, N50,000 worth of recharge cards, and N50 million naira ransom, the church leader said.
At current market rates, five jerry cans, 125 litres, cost approximately N171,250 to N181,250. Yet the ransom demanded – N50 million, or $37,515 – could never be paid by the ECWA supporters as it was beyond their means.
Yet, the local church elders had hope the ransom could be reduced. Some months prior to the abductions of local Christians in Uli and Maga towns in Danko Wasagu County The Christians had entered into an annual protection payment deal with the Fulani kidnap gangs, according to locals in the ECWA community speaking to TruthNigeria. The agreement was that no one from Uli or Maga would be kidnapped, and if any villager was kidnapped, proof of origin would guarantee free release, community leaders said. The annual extortion fee was $3,000, according to ECWA sources.
How Informants and Yan Sakai Derailed Ransom
As the church shopped for the items, a good Samaritan volunteer guard group intervened on their behalf. The volunteers included both Christians and Muslims, according to Pastor Bako Sabo, the ECWA missionary.
The guard group, known as “Yan Sakai” (Volunteers) in Yauri, suspected the unusual bulk purchase of fuel and recharge cards was a ransom and stopped the church members from making the purchases, Pastor Bako said.
The jihadist kidnappers, miles away in the bush, learned almost immediately that the ransom items were held up by the guards. They had collaborators inside the town who called the criminals and reported that the deal had been waylaid, he said.
Angered that the church had violated their rule against involving vigilantes or security, the terrorists threatened to kill the victims. Since that call, they have switched off their phone, he said. Negotiations have now gone silent.
A Region Under Siege and a World Silent
Pastor Bako called Truth Nigeria on Oct. 6 to report that the church plant in Ungwan Jamba Mission Station in nearby Bagudo had been burned down on Monday, he said, which means the criminal extortions were ongoing.
Similarly, the whole Kasoshi Local Church Council is shaking now, he said, adding, “We don’t know what might come on next. Let’s continue to pray for God’s intervention.”
For the church in Yauri, survival and freedom to worship is now measured in jerry cans of fuel, recharge cards, and a motorcycle sold to buy back a pastor.
Izhi Bitrus Adamu is a conflict reporter for Truth Nigeria.
